What is a CME Listing and Why is it Necessary?

CME (another acronym in our credentialing world) stands for Continuing Medical Education and is used to qualify/determine current clinical competency of the provider. Different providers require different levels of CME activity. For new physician graduates we typically get this information from residency procedure logs and we use procedure activity logs for other provider types. The MPR team is instrumental in collecting this information both at the time of initial appointment and every two years at reappointment (unless other requirements apply per the participating health care facility) when clinical privileges are requested or renewed.

One consistent question is how the information is best collected. Most would agree, it is best collected in a line listing indicating the sponsor of the event, topic of the course, date and number of hours assigned to the specific activity. The alternative is a collection of a variety of different CME certificates. This is not optimal as it adds bulk to the credential file and is more difficult to discern clinical competency.

MPR health care facility clients are licensed or accredited by a variety of different agencies/organizations including CMS, HFAP, Joint Commission, AAAHC, etc. (a definition of each can be found on our Glossary of Terms on the MPR website). Each standard reads a little differently on the CME requirements. The current Joint Commission standard reads:

“All licensed independent practitioners and other practitioners privileged through the medical staff process participate in continuing education. Continuing education is an adjunct to maintaining clinical skills and current competence. Each individual’s participation in continuing education is documented. Participation in continuing education is considered in decisions about reappointment to membership on the medical staff or renewal or revision of individual clinical privileges.” – MS12.01.01

MPR, with the help of the provider, will produce the credentialing file to meet the standards of each participating health care facility. We look forward to working with the provider and office personnel in obtaining CME information and presenting the information to the participating health care facilities in assisting them in meeting all credentialing standards.